Spotlight
This week’s agency Spotlight shines on CAP4Kids. Like HandsOn, CAP4Kids helps connect people with the resources they need, particularly services available to children and their families. CAP4Kids has helped communities across the United States in countless ways, and we asked Janel Field, the Community Resource Coordinator for CAP4Kids, about how CAP4Kids works and what they do within the Columbus community.
What is the main goal of CAP4Kids?
Our main goal is to improve the lives of children and families by connecting them to community resources that offer programs, services and help. CAP4Kids bridges the gap between the many quality social service agencies in the Columbus area and the families that need their help the most.
How did CAP4Kids start in Columbus?
Dr. Darryl Robbins, a local pediatrician and President of the Children’s Practicing Pediatricians (CPP), spearheaded the project with CPP and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Your website allows visitors to download handouts. What are they? What information do they give?
On the website, community resources are divided into categories making it easy to search based on individual interests or needs. Each category can be printed as a handout, thereby providing people with a list of resources available in a certain category. For example, if a family needs help finding after school care or summer camp programs, they can go to the section of the website titled “After School/Camps/Mentoring” and print out a handout listing over 120 local programs and agencies, including many low-cost or free programs.
What kinds of issues does CAP4Kids help with?
There are 21 categories on the website, they are:
After School/Camps/Mentoring, Child Abuse, Child Care/Respite Care, Domestic/Community Violence, Early Intervention/Development, Education Resources, Employment/Job Training, Food/ Nutrition/ Breastfeeding,
Low Cost Health Care/Insurance, Housing/Utilities, Immigration/Refugee Services, Legal Services, Literacy, Behavior/ Counseling/ Addiction, Parenting/Foster Care/Adoption, Physical Health Resources, Pregnancy Resources and Infants, Safety Resources, Shelters, Special Needs/Autism, Teen Resources
Who can use CAP4Kids?
Everyone! The website is free. Anyone with access to a computer can use the site. Healthcare and childcare providers find it a particularly useful tool, as they can quickly find and print a handout for patients or parents.
How does CAP4Kids gather their information? How can an agency get listed with CAP4Kids?
Dr. Emily Decker, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and her team spent over a year researching agencies and programs. The website is now updated weekly, and agencies may contact us at anytime to request inclusion.
How do people involved with CAP4Kids feel about having a positive impact on the communities they help?
The entire CAP4Kids Columbus team is deeply appreciative for the opportunity to work on a project that benefits the health and well being of children, families and individuals living in central Ohio.
What do you think it means to those communities?
We hope that connecting people to helpful resources will ultimately improve their overall health and well being, thereby making a positive impact on the communities in which they live. CAP4Kids also strives to highlight and promote the many wonderful community agencies that exist to improve the lives of children and families.
You can contact Janel Fields at CAP4Kids at (614) 355-0471, or visit the CAP4Kids website at www.cap4kids.org.
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